The Cognitive Approach

The cognitive approach sees our brain as our internal processor. We take in information from the world around us, process in internally and produce responses to the world. The focus areas of cognitive psychology are perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving and development.

Cognitive Psychology

= the internal processes between Stimulus and Response

This branch of Psychology is interested in what happens before you respond: ie - the bit when you are thinking (the flash word for thinking is...COGNITION)

You can think of your brain as being like a smartphone - it can keep downloading new apps and learning how to do new tricks. From the age of zero to 100 you can keep learning new things!

Cognitive theory states that that solutions to problems take the form of:algorithms– rules that are not necessarily understood but promise a solution or heuristics –rules that are understood but do not always guarantee solutions. In other instances,solutions may be gained through insight – a sudden awareness of relationships.It accepts the scientific method and rejects introspection but it does acknowledge the existence of internal mental states.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - CBT

The cognitive approach suggests that addictions may be a result of faulty thought patterns. One of the the treatments proposed is cognitive behavioural therapy (or CBT). This treatment aims to help people recognise and then correct their maladaptive or unhealthy thought patterns and then to practice more constructive thinking. This then guides behavioural changes - such as stopping the addictive behaviour.

The Allan Carr 'Easy Way to Stop Smoking' uses this type of method. He aims to completely reframe the way smokers think about their habit. Have a look at the brief steps in the wikihow page below. Or, if you're interested in finding out more about his method read the full text.